Iraq’s Sistani Calls on Parliament to End Support for Cabinet

Arab World

November 29th, 10:57am

Asharq Al-Awsat

Demonstrators run as a tear gas was thrown by Iraqi security forces during the ongoing anti-government protests in Baghdad, Iraq November 11, 2019. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani

Iraq’s top Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani warned on Friday of civil war as the death toll from weeks of unrest in the capital and southern provinces reached to at least 408. The government "appears to have been unable to deal with the events of the past two months,” he said. Sistani called on lawmakers to “reconsider” their support for the current government. The parliament that voted the cabinet of Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi is “invited to reconsider its choice in this regard and act according to Iraq's interest... (to) preserve the blood of its children," he said in a weekly sermon delivered by his representative. Sistani also said protesters should distinguish between peaceful demonstrators and those with malign intentions. Several demonstrators were killed on Friday, a day after forty protesters were shot dead by security forces in Baghdad and the southern cities of Najaf and Nasiriya on Thursday.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2013611/iraq%E2%80%99s-sistani-calls-parliament-end-support-cabinet